The work of the Supreme Court is focused on efficiency and quality, and currently its workload is an average of 50-60 cases per senator per year, which is an optimal indicator – as summarized by the President of the Supreme Court Aigars Strupišs at the Plenary Session of the Annual Report of the Supreme Court on 17 January.

The number of cases received and completed in the Senate last year was balanced: 2008 cases were received; 2005 cases were examined. The cassation proceedings involve the analysis of fundamental questions of law. While years ago, it was concluded that 100-120 cases per senator were too many, the current workload allows the Senate to better fulfil its core function of developing uniform case-law.

The President of the Supreme Court pointed out that the workload has been reduced not only by the decrease in the number of cases received, but also by the successful implementation of amendments to procedural laws in recent years, both by improving the cassation filter mechanism and by relieving the Senate of less important litigation processes, such as small claims in civil proceedings, settlements in criminal proceedings and technical decision-making in administrative proceedings.

The number of cases examined by the Senate has decreased by 14% in the Department of Administrative Cases, and by 13% in the Department of Civil Cases, as explained by the chairs of the departments at the Plenary Session. The President of the Supreme Court praised the Department of Administrative Cases for the reduction in the long-running backlog of cases, as well as for the improvement in the average time taken for examination of a case. The President also praised the Department of Criminal Cases for its ability to cope with the short-term challenge of ‘heavy’ cases, where a solution was found through skilful work organisation planning.

The workload of senators fluctuates, which makes it necessary to think about long-term solutions to adjust the number of senators in departments. Aigars Strupišs has called for amendments to the Law on Judicial Power to allow the number of senators in departments to be determined internally by the President of the Supreme Court, as is the case in lower courts.

  • Access to case-law

Predictable case-law increases the security of the legal system and confidence in the courts and the state as a whole. The President of the Supreme Court stressed the importance of information provided by the Senate's for the development of uniform case-law. Last year, more than 270 Senate’s rulings were added to the database of case-law decisions, which represents 14% of the rulings adopted. 56 rulings of the Department of Civil Cases, 27 rulings of the Department of Criminal Cases and 127 decisions of the Department of Administrative Cases containing case-law findings were added to the Supreme Court’s case-law database. In the previous year, there has been no departure from earlier case-law, which is a positive indicator as it increases confidence in stable court practice.

  • Senate's guidelines for judgement writing

The President of the Supreme Court pointed out that the majority of senators welcomed the development of the guidelines for the drafting of Senate’s rulings. The Supreme Court has also prepared guidelines for judgement writing for district and regional courts in all four types of proceedings, and the Judicial Council has approved them.

The Supreme Court has also developed guidelines for drafting cassation complaints; however, these guidelines have not yet improved the quality of cassation complaints, including those prepared by sworn advocates. The Division of Case-law and Research of the Supreme Court has been instructed to compile practices on compliance with the guidelines for drafting cassation complaints. As a possibility, the President of the Supreme Court noted the creation of a special corps of advocates to work for the Senate.

  • Crisis situations

The President of the Supreme Court mentioned two major judicial crises in the past year which, although not affected the Senate directly, required Supreme Court’s active involvement.

The resolution of the issues of temporary protection against violence required the search for swift and effective inter-institutional cooperation and active communication. A working group was set up within the Judicial Council, which also included representatives of the Senate.

Situations of release from custody of persons accused of crimes against the state and the subsequent evasion of justice by such persons were a source of concern. A workshop was organised for security officials to explain that, when imposing security measures, courts assess the justification for limitations of human rights and compliance with the requirements of international instruments. As a result, awareness was raised on the harmonisation of investigative activities and standards of fundamental rights. Whereas, the involvement of the responsible security services informed judges about the security risks.

  • This year's highlights

Aigars Strupišs also focused his report on the Senate's international cooperation, the organisation of conferences, the strengthening of the senators' support service, the initiation of disciplinary proceedings and other issues.

As a Supreme Court’s priority this year, the President emphasised the limits and possibilities of using artificial intelligence tools in the work of courts, initially focusing on the possibility of uniform case selection.

The monitoring of the practice of the use of the guidelines prepared by the Supreme Court, the dialogue with lower courts, as well as the identification of opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of the courts will be continued.

Opportunities will also continue to be sought to relieve judges of their duties in various extra-judicial activities, in order to leave the primary responsibility of judges (administration of justice) and participation in self-government bodies as their main duties. This proposal has been referred to the Judicial Council for detailed consideration.

Aigars Strupišs pointed out that this was the last Annual Report Plenary Session within his first term of office as President of the Supreme Court, which is to end in June this year. At a press conference after the Plenary Session, Aigars Strupišs confirmed that he will stand for re-election as President of the Supreme Court.

  • Statistics on the Senate’s work in Latvian: see here

  • Video recording of the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court: see here

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211